Advantages and disadvantages of 3D printing

3D printing is advancing by leaps and bounds. Currently it is not very usual to have a 3D printer of your own, however, it is a fact that this technology will change the life of the human being and will revolutionize the food, medical, automotive and architectural industries. This fact has great advantages but also certain disadvantages that we will have to face:

Advantages of 3D printing

Versatility:

The revolution that supposes for the manufacture of products. A single 3D printer is capable of making many different products. Much of the current manufacturing is done with specific machines whose function is limited and if the product changes, the machine must also be readjusted or changed. 3D printers only need the material of the component to be created and a design of it.

Flexibility and rapid prototyping:

The limit is the imagination and the ability to represent your ideas in 3D. It allows making prototypes of products with ease, which can imply an improvement in the design of these, a creation of new designs that improve our lives, correction of errors in existing products …

Cost reduction:

Both in the production process and in the transport process since production can be done from home. In turn, companies, instead of having a process automation system to carry out a commercial product, will put 3D printers into play to reduce machine costs and correct errors in terms of design through design in computers.

New industry and sector:

A new industry and a new sector that will create new jobs, and new forms of business: Companies dedicated to producing and selling 3D designs, companies dedicated to producing the printers and materials needed to develop this technology …

Multiple applications yet to be discovered:

In the field of medicine, we find surprising applications, such as the creation of prostheses or even the printing of organic tissues. In the food sector, hamburgers have already been created through 3D printing … 3D printing has a lot of ground to cover and will increasingly be applied in more fields.

Disadvantages of 3D printing

The decrease in jobs.

The elaboration of the products both in companies and in homes and the reduction of machinery together with the technicians necessary for its operation may lead to fewer jobs in the manufacture of products.

Infringement of copyright.

The replication of copyrighted objects will be difficult to control because 3D scanners allow the replication of an object, it is only necessary to have the design and the necessary means for printing.

Malicious uses of technology:

There is the possibility of creating objects such as firearms, knives … In short, as mentioned above, almost any object limited only by the imagination of the author. This fact, together with the difficult control of copyright and the sale of designs, will represent a great danger.

The increase of products without utility:

We must think about the consequences of the massive creation of products through 3D printing, not so much in the product itself, as in the possible contamination that would generate the indiscriminate production of these.